Flesh-eating turtles to invade UK — and ruin our warm summer

Experts are warning the dangerous terrapins — as big as dinner plates — are invading from Florida, US, and have been breeding madly this spring.

The vile beasts are set to swim up the country's rivers, canals and into our lakes and seas as temperatures sizzle.

And the dangerous snapping creatures lurk underwater and wait to devour our skin — even that of young kids — with their razor-sharp teeth.

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DANGER: The terrapins have teeth sharp enough to bite toes and fingers off

“They are carnivores. They will eat anything that moves”

Spokesman for the Wetheriggs Animal Rescue and Conservation Centre

A spokesman for the Wetheriggs Animal Rescue and Conservation Centre in Cumbria said: "They are carnivores. They will eat anything that moves. We had two snapping turtles as well as the terrapins, and they could very easily take the finger off a small child.

"If you have kids paddling in a river, the turtles could easily snap off a toe or a finger. They can become quite aggressive when they have grown.

"There are lots of different species of turtles and some are more aggressive than others. The snapping turtles are the worst and they can attack small animals as well as young children."

The UK's mild winter and early spring has failed to deep-freeze lakes and ponds and conditions are ideal for the terrapins rushing across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Canal and River Trust, a charity which helps look after waterways across Britain, warned a hot summer will see the creatures breed and multiply.

A spokesman said: "It could be bad news for conservation because they are not a native species — they come from the eastern states of North America, such as the swamps of Florida.

"We've been concerned that the trend of increasing temperatures associated with climate change would give terrapins the conditions they need to successfully breed, something which could be a disaster for some native wildlife."

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BREEDING: The animals have multiplied recently

He added: "They need extremely warm, sustained conditions and that's particularly noticeable in towns and cities which can become 'heat islands' in the summer, which could explain this finding on the canal in London."

Terrapins were bought as pets during the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles movie craze in the late 1980s and early 1990s but have been dumped as they've got too big for families to look after.